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Date
2021
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Abstract
Through an examination of complex family dynamics, my work explores personal experience through the lens of materiality. Memories of fluorescent lights, difficult conversations, and crumpled paper are portrayed through installations and performances. These pieces depict emotions such as guilt, helplessness, and empathy, highlighting the complex nature of unconditional love for a person who struggles with sobriety and mental illness. Time-intensive processes and delicate materials like silk, handmade paper, and performance allow me to explore complicated relationships while acting as metaphors for familial love. Unspoken words on handmade paper and bleached silk begin to paint the picture of these relationships’ cyclical nature. I incorporate artifacts from my home as lived-in personal possessions. These act as stand-ins for family members while drawing attention to their absence, and loss of warmth the objects once held. The resulting installations demonstrate tensions, both materially and emotionally. These works speak of a familial specificity, yet in doing so address the universal experience of physical and emotional weight within relationships.
Description
Thesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Alfred University Honors Program.
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Thesis
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Keywords
Honors thesis, Relationships, Family, Sobriety, Mental illness, Delicate materials